Feel bad for the guy. He was a really clutch guy for the Sharks over his career - always sad to see guys having to leave the game without it being on their own terms. Just hope that his health doesn't stop him from enjoying life.
As for the Sharks - they are looking poised to start climbing back up. I think they have had a very successful rebuild on paper - they have talent at every position, and are about to add another high-end pick (plus they hold another 1st round pick this draft, plus two 2nd round picks). That's another injection of talent long-term, or they can use that draft capital to trade for players. How much they move up will be based on who they get to sign there. Up until their rebuild, they were one of the favourite destinations for UFAs. Will they start being that destination again as soon as this off-season? I have a feeling that they will need to overpay for a player still, but it won't be long before some players go there on a bit of a discount again, even with the higher taxes.
Sigh.. those California road trips are going to be difficult again very soon, aren't they? LA should still be good for a number of years, Anaheim has been rising and is looking like a well-built team, and San Jose as mentioned above. Plus Utah is looking like they are on the cusp of becoming a really good team, and they still have some blue-chips coming - such a big, talented and well-skating team right now. Then you have Chicago and Seattle spinning their wheels. Preds are either rebuilding or competing - trying to do both anyway by the looks of it. Vancouver looks like a team that is about to enter a rebuild after having a very short compete window. I guess there will be balance in the conference.
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